We all Need to Pray

I have been reading all the posts here, plus knowing what I have been going through, and I don't know how many of you are Christians, but I feel an urgent need to pray for all of us who are being attacked by stress. Lord, we just come to you this moment, and ask in your most holy name, that you would give us a peace beyond understanding, and that you would relieve us of any stress, and anxiety we might be feeling. We know that you are the author of peace, not confusion, so we proclaim peace in your name. We ask you Holy Spirit, that you would please visit each and every person who would pray this prayer and give our minds rest, our hearts peace, and our bodies re-freshing. I ask that You would surround each of us with your love, and that we can feel your love and that the enemy has no right to touch us. Thank you Lord, for your Love, Gentleness, Kindness, Joy and peace. PEACE PEACE PEACE in Jesus' name. Amen I hope that if you pray this prayer, you would please post if you have a testimonial. I for one, can say after typing this, I can just feel the pressure leave, and the day's worries slip away!! Amen!! Peace, In Jesus' Name! Deborah

I've been praying some variation of this prayer for quite some time as I've definitely been under a great deal of stress..... especially this past month. I have my 5th round of plastics coming up on 4/7, trying to come up with the money for that surgey, followed up by paying Uncle Sam a few weeks later. Been battling for the first time since my WLS the worst constipation ever (yucky I know!) and my gastroenterologist just doesn't seem to be listening to me. Will be calling my primary care doc tomorrow. Had an endoscopy on Wed too cause I've also been throwing up more and more the past several months; they biopisied something that I'm waiting to hear back on. Just seems like when the body should be so much better it's not wanting to cooperate all of a sudden. I need to have all of this resolved before my surgery in April. Aaagh! I've got to have my thigh lift revised on 6/29 and I'm praying that my insurance will cover or I've got to come up with thousands more to pay for that. Add to all this, I'm trying to change jobs at work because I know the source of a lot of my stress is from there, but then I have the added stress of explaining to a new potential boss that I already have 4 surgeries planned for this year (April, June, August & November). Granted I won't be out for recovery but maybe a week at the time, but still a stress. I have the added restriction that my insurance won't cover any more of my plastics after this year so hence why I'm having to be so aggressive with my surgery schedule. I have an interview this Wed at 4:00 (wish me luck!). Oh well, guess I've vented long enough. Your prayer was helpful believe it or not....

I KNOW THIS WILL SEEM TOO SIMPLE, BUT MS KIMBERLY ... IT WORKS. LIKE I TOLD MS DEB IN A PREVIOUS POST ... TAKE CARE OF JUST WHAT IS IN FRONT OF YOU ... YOUR JOB INTERVIEW & YOUR UPCOMING PSurgery. IF A "FIRE" ARISES, HANDLE IT ... PUT EVERYTHING ELSE ON YOUR "TO DO" LIST & HANDLE THEM ONE AT A TIME, NOT TRYING TO GET ALL YOUR DUCKS IN A ROW FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. OF COUSE THINGS NEED TO BE SCHEDULED SOMEWHAT, BUT IN YOUR MIND ... JUST HANDLE THE THINGS THAT NEED YOUR ATTENTION RIGHT NOW. EACH THING IN THE FUTURE WILL COME INTO PLAY WHEN IT NEEDS TO. THEN, WHATEVER YOU CANNOT DO ... WHATEVER YOU AREN'T ABLE TO HANDLE ... LEAVE IT ALONE ... IT IS GOD'S RESPONSIBILITY & HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN, EVER!!!!!!!!!! STAY OUT OF HIS WAY OR HE CANNOT HELP YOU UNTIL YOU CRASH & BURN ... THEN, YOU FIND THAT YOU MUST GET OUT OF HIS WAY & HE'LL DO WHAT HE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU ALL ALONG IF YOU'D HAVE JUST LET HIM. I KNOW ... EASIER SAID THAN DONE ... I HAVE THIS PRAYER AT THE BEGINNING OF MY PROFILE ... REALLY READ IT & FOLLOW IT ... GOD GRANT ME THE SERENITY TO ACCEPT THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE ... THE COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS I CAN ... AND THE WISDOM TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. THAT SAYS IT ALL, SWEETIE. YOUR STRESS WILL DEMINISH IMMEDIATELY. GOD BLESS YOU DAWN & NICK

BE SURE & LET US KNOW WHAT YOUR DOCTORS FIND OUT ABOUT YOUR MEDICAL ISSUES, MS KIMBERLY ... THAT, MORE THAN ANYTHING IS THE CAUSE OF YOUR STRESS ... YOU NEED TO FOCUS ON GETTING WELL & BEING PEACEFUL. PLASTIC SURGERY IS WONDERFUL, BUT IT'S A NON-ISSUE WHEN COMPARED TO REGAINING YOUR HEALTH. WE SEND OUR PRAYERS ... GOD BLESS YOU DAWN & NICK

Thanks for all the kind words and advice! Even though I had a crazy week as usual at work (I joke with my team that I need a firemans hat because I constantly put out fires and a tiara because I'm also the queen of multi-tasking! ) things were a little better. My interview went well and my explanation as to being out for upcoming surgery worked itself very easily into the conversation and her response was that I shouldn't be worried about it at all......it just actually showed my dedication that I schedule them and come back so quickly. I'm up against 25 other qualified candidates though, so this may have just been a brushing up on my interviewing skills interview. We'll see. I've been praying about it and if it's meant to be, then a job offer will be coming my way. As for my medical issues, my endoscopy showed nothing wrong, so that was good. I saw my primary care doc on Thursday about the constipation. I told him what was going on and that my gastroenterologist just didn't seem to be listening to me and he immediately replied that he would send me to someone else (my PCM is such a sweetheart!). He changed the meds the other doc had me on. Gave me some samples of Zelnorm to try. To say that it works quickly is an understatement!! He told me that I'd feel like a new person within 2-3 days. Hoping so! He also gave me some samples of prevacid to try if I need to b/c he said that he didn't care what the endoscopy showed, my stomach could still be producing acid causing me to throw up. So if that persists, then I'll try those too. How are your medical issues? Are you feeling more up to par yet? How is your energy level? I had a flashback to exhaustion last week and I can say I didn't like it at all!! I stopped taking my iron for a week to just see if it was playing a role in the constipation. Whoa! The total and quick loss of energy for me was astounding. My thought was, I'd been taking the iron for a year, so even if it was contributing, it would just have to, cause I couldn't function with that low level of energy. Hope yours is lots better now!

THAT IS TOO FUNNY ... WE'LL HAVE TO SHORTEN YOUR TITLE TO "FIRE QUEEN"! SO PLEASED TO HEAR THAT YOU DID SO WELL DURING YOUR INTERVIEW & THAT YOUR PS PLANS ACTUALLY WORKED IN YOUR FAVOR ... NEVER A DOUBT! YOU ARE SO RIGHT ... IF IT'S MEANT TO BE, THE JOB WILL BE YOURS ... &, IF NOT, IT'S BECAUSE GOD HAS SOMETHING EVEN BETTER FOR YOU IN HIS PLANS! WOW, GOOD NEWS ON THE SCOPE FINDINGS & AN EXTRA HUG FOR YOUR PCM! I HAVE A GREAT PRIMARY DOCTOR, TOO ... ACTUALLY HAD A CHANCE TO GET ONE OF HIS ASSOCIATES JUST 3 MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE & PASSED ... I'LL DRIVE FURTHER TO SEE DR C! YUP, I WAS ON ACIPHEX FOR MONTHS UNTIL MY POUCH & ACID ISSUES CALMED DOWN. NOW, I'M OFF IT & DOING FABULOUSLY ... HAVEN'T HAD ANY GERD OR ACID REFLUX ISSUES FOR SEVERAL WEEKS SINCE BEING OFF THE ACIPHEX. NOW, THIS IS A NEW EXPERIENCE FOR ME! PRE-SURGERY, I WAS IN AWFUL SHAPE ... HAD TO BE NEAR A RESTROOM NO MATTER WHERE WE WENT. NOW, I'M IN HEAVEN ... MY POUCH & INTESTINAL TRACK WORK & I DON'T HAVE ANY DISTRESS, CRAMPING, OR DIAREAHA (sp?) LIKE BEFORE. IF THIS WAS THE ONLY THING THAT IMPROVED HEALTHWISE, THE SURGERY WOULD HAVE BEEN WELL WORTH IT, BUT I'VE HAD SO MANY HEALTH IMPROVEMENTS THAT I'M JUST ECSTATIC! THANKS FOR ASKING ... I'M FEELING BETTER WITH MORE ENERGY NOW ... HAVE BEEN IN THE MOOD SWINGS BUT FROM WHAT I READ FROM MY FELLOW OCTOBERITES, THIS IS FAIRLY NORMAL ... HAD A LITTLE HAIR LOSS THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS, BUT THAT HAS SLOWED DOWN. ALL-IN-ALL, I THINK MY BODY JUST CAME OUT OF A MAJOR ADJUSTMENT & MINOR ISSUES ARE CALMING BACK DOWN. HOW'S THE EXHAUSTION ISSUE FOR YOU NOW THAT YOU'RE BACK ON YOUR IRON? NICK & I WERE TALKING THAT WE'RE NOTICING HOW I CAN DO MORE & MORE ... I HIT A ROUGH PATCH, BUT NOW SEEM TO REALLY BE GAINING GROUND VERY QUICKLY. BE SURE TO LET ME KNOW HOW YOU'RE PROGRESSING, MS KIMBERLY! GOD BLESS YOU DAWN & NICK

"Sista" Deb ...God bless...that prayer was soooooooooooo needed. I consider myself a prayer warrior...so I have been praying for ALL that God places on my heart...this can keep me in prayer for quite a while, but it's worth it, because we know prayer works!!! Gods Blessings, Tonya

Thanks for posting this Deb. We all need to take a few minutes to read it every day. Susann

Hi Deborah, I'm also a Debra and live in Spartanburg, SC. Thank you so much for that wonderful post on prayer. I Have been asking for as many prayers on my upcoming WLS as I can get. I have a BIG question that I'm hoping someone can help me with. HOW DO YOU POST?? I seen how to REPLY to a post, but not how to post my self. I also can't figure out how to put my profile on this site. I am so very lost with all this stuff. So please .... HELLLLPPP! God bless, Debra Spencer

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR UPCOMING WLSurgery, MS DEBRA. I'VE ADDED YOU TO OUR SC WEIGHT LOSS LIST. YOU'VE DEFINITELY COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE. THIS IS A GREAT BOARD WITH FANTASTIC PEOPLE. HOPE TO SEE MORE OF YOU HERE & GET TO KNOW YOU! GOD BLESS YOU DAWN & NICK